Countermeasures against Cyber Operations: Moving forward?

Abstract

Summary The paper is devoted to the analysis of countermeasures in the context of cyber operations. This circumstance precluding wrongfulness is one of the tools that states can use in response to (not only) malign cyber operations that fulfil the characteristics of an internationally wrongful act. The paper examines the various material and procedural conditions of countermeasures and the specifics of their implementation in cyberspace. The second part of the paper then discusses contentious issues related to countermeasures, namely the relationship between countermeasures and the principle of due diligence, the possibility of implementing forcible countermeasures, and finally the current status of collective countermeasures under customary international law.